The present invention relates to a foot pedal assembly for drums, and more particularly relates to a foot assembly of the type in which movement of a stepped-on foot pedal is transmitted to a rocker cam via a suitable connector to cause beating motion of a beater head carried by the rocker cam.
One example of such a foot pedal assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,800,828 in which a metallic link chain is used as the connector between the rocker cam and the foot pedal. The trouble with this metallic link chain connection is that movement of the link chain is inevitablly accompanied by undesirable metallic noise which fatally degrades the acoustic effect of musical instruments for which the foot pedal assembly is used. This influence by the metallic noises is not negligible especially when the foot pedal is stepped on in succession.
Another example of the above-described type foot pedal assembly uses a rigid strap such as a thin steel strap as the connector between the rocker cam and the foot pedal. In this case, the upper end portion of the rigid strap can hardly be entrained about the periphery of the rocker cam due to its poor resiliency. In other words, the rigid strap is in contact with the rocker cam at the fixed point thereof to the rocker cam only and most of the remaining portion of the rigid strap does not come in contact with the periphery of the rocker cam when the foot pedal is stepped on and the rigid strap is pulled down thereby. Therefore, the pulling force by the rigid strap cannot be fairly converted into torque for causing axial rotation of the rocker cam, i.e. swing movement of the beater head for beating the drum head. For this reason, it is very difficult for players to correctly preset the step-on force to be imposed upon the foot pedal. In addition, although it is not so serious as in the case of the foot pedal assembly using the metallic link chain, this foot pedal assembly cannot be completely free from the trouble of metallic noises.
For the purpose of avoiding metallic noise and facilitating settlement of correct step-on force to be imposed upon the foot pedal, a foot pedal assembly using a flexible belt or strap as the connector between the rocker cam and the foot pedal is already proposed. One example of such a foot pedal assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,030,847. In this case, the belt or strap is made of a resiliently pliable material such as leather or rubber. Using a non-metallic connector, this foot pedal assembly is quite free from metallic noise trouble. However, the conventional foot pedal assembly of this type is inevitably accompanied with different kinds of drawbacks. As the belt or strap is fixed to a point on the periphery of the rocker cam by a set screw and the remaining portion of the belt or strap comes into snug but smooth surface contact with the periphery of the rocker cam when the foot pedal is stepped on, stress concentration occurs on the set screw which accelerates quick breakage of the set screw. Development of permanent strain on the belt or strap due to the relatively small tensile strength of the resilient material connects to unfair following of the beater head motion to the step-on motion applied to the foot pedal. In addition, the smooth contact of the belt or strap with the periphery of the rocker cam makes it rather difficult to ideally convert the substantially linear movement of the belt or strap into corresponding turning motion of the beater head to beat drum heads.